“I consider the practice of so-called surrogate motherhood to be deplorable, which represents a serious violation of the dignity of women and children, based on the exploitation of cases of the mother’s material needs,” Francis said in prepared remarks. “A child is always a gift and never the basis of a commercial contract. Therefore, I express my hope that the international community will make an effort to ban this practice globally.
The Pope portrayed surrogacy as a particularly Western problem, a “culture of death” that “ignores children, the elderly and the sick.”
Liberals have embraced Francis for his outreach to the LGBTQ+ community and his focus on immigrants, the poor and global warming. But he stuck to the church's conservative positions on reproductive health, and has taken positions against surrogacy, in vitro fertilization and abortion.
In 2022, he compared surrogacy — or “surrogacy,” as he called it — to pornography as “threats to human dignity.” He has repeatedly spoken of surrogacy as exploitation of poor women, part of a world in which poor people are victimized by a commoditized and overly commercialized Western culture.
Francis on Monday also reiterated his stance against “gender theory,” which he described as “extremely dangerous.”
Overall, the speech represents a summary of the global issues that Francis has sought to put on diplomatic agendas, including a ceasefire in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, negotiations to end the war in Ukraine, lingering humanitarian crises in Africa, and rising tensions in Latin America. America.
Likewise, the United Nations has warned that the practice of surrogacy could turn children into a commodity, but has called for global safeguards rather than bans.
Many countries in Europe already ban surrogacy, or only allow it in “altruistic” cases, where a relative or close friend is willing to act as a surrogate without financial compensation.
Europeans searching for surrogate mothers often looked for them in the United States and, before the outbreak of war, in Ukraine.
In Italy, far-right Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is seeking to expand the current ban on surrogacy to impose prison sentences and heavy fines on parents seeking to have children through surrogates abroad.
In May, Meloni appeared alongside Frances at an event against “demographic winter” in Italy, where she condemned surrogacy as not a solution.
“Motherhood is not for sale. Surrogacy is not for rent and babies are not over-the-counter products that you can pick out on the shelf like you would in a supermarket and maybe return if the product is not what you expected,” Meloni said at the time.
Pro-surrogacy groups criticized the pope's comments on Monday, calling them helpful to Meloni's proposed law.
“Of course it will have political consequences in Italy,” said Susanna Lollini, a member of the legal team of Familiar Arcobaleno, an association of LGBT parents. “The ruling right doesn't really care about the Pope or religion, but it's useful to say: The Pope asked for this.”
